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What I Expect from FiM
So, Dr. Wolf just released a video that you should totally watch if you haven't. I'd link it here if I knew how to link youtube videos without automatically embedding them. And with me being the guy who complains a lot about negativity I suppose I'd say what I expect from Friendship is Magic. # A coherent story. This is the most important thing for me. A story should know what plot it's trying to tell and know how to do it. # Consistent characterization: Characters have to be in-character, although it's not a black-and-white thing. Some actions are debatably "in-character" (see in Pinkie Pie in A Friend in Deed) # Some level of entertainment: It's entertainment, it should be entertaining. I'm not expecting the most hilarious or epic thing ever. As long as the story is interesting, or funny, it meets this expectation. # A moral that understands itself: This is the only expectation that I apply to Friendship is Magic that I don't apply to most other shows because the show is defined by its moral format. Essentially, the episode knows what it's doing. That's it. That's the end of the story. Nothing else. They may seem minimalist, but that's the expectations that the show has given me since season one, and even episodes have had their blunders. I expect these things because this show has proved to be excellent at them, especially when they try. This is what I go into each episode with, and have since the very beginning. If they can give me more, that's great. But with that comes risk. Take world-building for example. This show is not good at world-building, see Baby Cakes or Feeling Pinkie Keen or Secret of My Excess. Can you have higher expectations than this? Of course you can, but when you get disappointed for the show not doing something that it doesn't want to is a situation that doesn't lead to anything good. At all. Remember, this is a kid's show. I'm saying that as a neutral statement. It's not derogatory towards the show or anything. It's like saying that this book is a fantasy book. If you're expecting the fantasy book to have romance then you're not looking in the right place. Sure, some fantasy stories have romance in them, but that's not what defines the genre, and not having romance in this particular fantasy book is NOT a criticism that holds water. You know how a lot of people are comparing things to season one? Yeah, I'm doing that too. That's what gave me the upper four expectations. They are a minimum, but I don't hold it against an episode if it only hits the minimum. I praise it if it goes beyond the minimum, or criticize it for going below the minimum. Did season one of MLP do a lot more world-building than later seasons? Of course they did. It also told us a lot about these characters. That's what happens at the beginning of pretty much any show. Avatar didn't introduce a new nation in season three. Once you've built your world, then you play around with it. The show could never establish a new element ever again and I'd be perfectly fine with it. Good character interactions? Well, that comes as a fusion of all of the above expectations. Category:Miscellaneous